Lisini picked up the Flor de Cana Award for Sustainability at the recent Scottish Bar and Pub Awards. The company, which owns Dalziel Park in Motherwell and Angels in Uddingston, is on a mission to embrace sustainability in all aspects of its business and now Kay Smith has taken that responsibility under her wing.
Kay Smith comments, “We are aware of the pressing need to take drastic and collective action to reduce the catastrophic impact modern day living is having upon planet earth. This is why we have been taking steps to reduce our carbon emissions for the past few years and have set a target of becoming Net Zero by 2045, in line with the Scottish Government’s objectives.
“We have had our carbon footprint analysed in conjunction with Net Zero Now and Lisini are proud to be the first hospitality company in Scotland to be certified as ‘On The Road to Net Zero’ with them.
“Seeing our carbon footprint has highlighted areas to target reductions in emissions, which we will be implementing in stages over the coming months and years. In the first year we have set ambitious interim targets of reducing our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% which we hope to achieve through a combination of procuring renewable electricity contracts and behavioural changes to drive down our natural gas consumption.
“Once we have driven down our carbon footprint as far as possible the remaining carbon will be offset by investing in carbon positive schemes, thus rendering us a genuinely Net Zero hospitality company.
“We hope that this will inspire other hospitality companies to follow suit. Admittedly it is not an easy, nor an inexpensive title to obtain, especially in such trying times for hospitality and many other industries. However, we must all be mindful that a collective effort is required in order to protect the planet we share.
Green Teams
“We have a team of employees at each of our venues dedicated to driving down energy usage and improving the environmental and social responsibility of their venue. Each year at the Lisini staff Ball we have an award for the Green Team who have made the biggest improvement and reduced their energy & water usage by the highest percentage. So far we have managed to consistently reduce our electricity usage by around 20% and gas by around 15% in the past 12 months. Across the company this equates to 48.5 tonnes of CO2e saved per year.
“We are continually working towards improving our environmental and social responsibility as a company and encourage our green teams to come forward with ideas as to how we can meet these objectives. Some examples of what we have implemented from their suggestions so far include: growing our own herbs for cocktails on site, composting our garden waste and fruit & veg peelings, dehydrating fruit peels for use in cocktails rather than going to food waste, forming a connection with the local community gardening group Grow Uddingston to recycle our used coffee grinds for use in their gardens (fertilizes soil and acts as a pest deterrent), installing a drying line outside for housekeepers use rather than using the tumble dryer, incorporating sustainably made spirits into our drinks offerings, switching to plant based alternatives to dairy & egg in our cocktail ingredients & installing more options on draught to eliminate bottle waste.
Plant based and Sustainably Sourced Food
“It is becoming increasingly apparent that meat and dairy farming is one of the main contributors to global warming worldwide. As a result of this knowledge, we are offering an increasing number of plant-based protein options, to allow our customers the option of a more planet– friendly meal choice when dining with us. This can be complemented with a sustainably certified beverage from our Sustainable Drinks list.
“Our meat is as locally sourced as possible and therefore has the lowest possible environmental impact and we are reviewing our menus to make them more seasonal and incorporating sustainably foraged ingredients, and have designed a fruit and veg garden at our biggest venue Dalziel Park on which work will be beginning imminently.”